Where Are You Looking?

  What you see depends upon where you are looking. 

  Cheri Cowell in her devotional of June 26 wrote this:
“Do you know you will never see the sun rise, if you are looking to the West? Dumb question, I know, but many of us are trying to do just that.  We are trying to find God by looking at what the world tells us. The Bible says God’s mind is not like our own, and therefore, to see God we must understand God’s mind. So, how do we do that, you may ask?”

  May I state, emphatically, that I believe the Bible to be the adequate piece of the mind of God.  The Bible is not a history of man’s effort to find God.  It is an account of God’s effort to reveal Himself to man.  The Bible is God’s Word in a sense that no other book in the world is God’s Word. The Old Testament is an account of a Nation.  The New Testament is an account of a MAN. The nation, Israel, was founded and nurtured of God to bring the MAN into the world. In founding the Hebrew nation, God’s ultimate object was to bring Christ into the world. Christ Jesus is the theme of both the Old and the New Testaments.  The Old Testament views Christ in anticipation.  The New Testament views Christ in realization.  The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed.  The New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.  

  The theme of the Bible:  Someone is Coming (Old Testament).
Someone has come (Gospels) Matthew, Mark, Luke, John of the New Testament.
Someone is coming back (Letters of the New Testament).

  What is the purpose of the Bible?  Jesus said, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”  John 12:32  (NIV)
Man is drawn and made acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. This is why the Bible reveals to us Christ, so that we can know the Father, God.  Paul, inspired by God, wrote to young Timothy stating, “And how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.:  2 Timothy 3:15   (NIV)
Faith in Jesus, being the Messiah, saves.  How do we get faith? “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”   Romans 10:17  (NIV) 

  It is the Word of God (Bible) by the Holy Spirit of God that convinces, convicts and converts the lives of those who will let it.  Man is begotten by the Word of God, that is born again through the implanted seed of God.  The gospel message is the power of God unto salvation, to all who believe.  How essential it is, then, that we hear, know (experience) God’s Word, the Bible.

  Sir Walter Scott, aged and in-firmed, a writer of many volumes, lay upon his bed. He spoke to a friend standing by and asked: “Read to me from the book”.  “The book?” responded the friend, from what book shall I read?” he asked. “What Book?” answered Sir Walter Scott, there is but one book, read to me out of the Bible.” 

  If you want to know God fully, you need to go to the book, the Bible.   The Bible is our only rule for faith and practice.

You Can’t Win Them All

  Tom Watson lost in the British Open Golf Playoff.  One putt, from 8 feet, was all that separated him from victory. It seemed that most of the golf fans were pulling for Tom Watson to win. I wanted him to win and I am not even a golf fan. But, how disappointing, he lost. Even the great Tiger Woods didn’t make the cut so he could play in the second round. He took his clubs and went home.  Someone has said about baseball, “you win a few, lose a few and a few are rained out.” That is the way it is. I think it was Lombardi, the great coach of the Green Bay Packers, who said, “Winning isn’t everything, it is the only thing.”  I disagree.  There has to be winners and losers, that is what makes it a game. What counts is playing the game: striving, struggling, becoming, being the best player you can be. 

  I am fearful, that this success syndrome, ‘win them all attitude’, is carried over into the Christian life. We highlight our spiritual highs, implying that these are the norm.  The ‘victorious Christian life’ gospel is at best only half true.  Christians need to be told that difficulties and pressures are par for the course. And no amount of Biblical input or deeper-life conferences or super-victory seminars will remove the struggles.  
If we expect a trouble-free walk with Jesus, we will not be prepared to handle the inevitable trials and failures that confront us.  Jesus told His disciples, “In this world you will have trouble.”  John 16:33 

  The Bible does not hold up before us any false sense of victory without conflict.  We are engaged in an all out war and we can’t have battles without leaving scars.  None of us are exempt from the agony of the struggle.  It is true as the old song says, “All God’s children got troubles.  

  I want you to know that we all are involved in the tragic possibility of suffering.  Every intelligent person knows that he lives every minute of his life on the brink of disaster.  Life is transitory, perilous, potentially horrible.  God is not the cause of our suffering.  Some misfortunes are caused by bad luck, some are caused by bad people, some are simply an inevitable consequence of our being human and being mortal, living in a world of inflexible, natural laws. Yet, pain, sorrow, suffering has its place in the scheme of things, helping us to be more aware of the temporariness of life in this world and the value of relationships.

  May the Lord help us to accept the truth that we can’t win them all. We will lose some battles. We don’t always have to be victorious, on top of everything. The crucial thing to understand is that we can win the war, even if we lose some battles.  Life is filled with ups and downs, successes and failures, and we must learn to accept the bitter with the sweet.  Someone said, “If you want a place in the sun, you must expect    blisters.”   Our challenge is to be faithful to the Lord, no matter what life in this world brings to us.

  Sir Winston Churchhill was asked to speak before a group of schoolboys at Harrow.  The teacher told the boys to be prepared with pencil and paper to write down what the great statesman would say.  The day came when the Prime Minister of Great Britain was to speak.  He was 75 years of age.  He stood, lowered his glasses to his nose and said with great feeling, “Never give up. Never give up. Never give up.  Never. Never.”  His speech was over and the boys had received that crucial message, Never give up.  

  Be faithful to the Lord, no matter what.  God’s love and forgiveness will cover the battles you have fought but lost.  But, in Christ Jesus, you can win the war and gain that Heavenly Home which Christ has prepared for the faithful.  This old world is not home.  If this world is heaven, what is Heaven for?

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.   2 Corinthians 4:8-9
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”    2 Corinthians 4:16-18

A Friend in Need is A Friend Indeed

  I need friends.  I am so blessed, as I feel that I have lots of good friends.  I hope that is true for you.  I was really touched by this story of TWO HORSES.  I want to share it with you.  Hope you enjoy it too.

  “Just up the road from my home is a field, with two horses in it.  From a distance, each horse looks like any other horse. But, if you stop your car, or are walking by, you will notice something quite amazing.
Looking into the eyes of one horse will disclose that he is blind.  His owner has chosen not to have him put down, but has made a good home for him.  This alone is amazing.

  If you stand nearby and listen, you will hear the sound of a bell.  Looking around for the source of the sound, you will see that it comes from the smaller horse in the field.  Attached to the horse’s halter is a small bell.  It lets the blind friend know where the other horse is, so he can follow.

  As you stand and watch these two friends, you’ll see that the horse with the bell is always checking on the blind horse, and that the blind horse will listen for the bell and then slowly walk to where the other horse is, trusting that he will not be led astray.  When the horse with the bell returns to the shelter of the barn each evening, it stops occasionally and looks back, making sure that the blind friend isn’t too far behind to hear the bell.

  Like the owners of these two horses, God does not throw us away just because we are not perfect or because we have problems or challenges.  He watches over us and even brings others into our lives to help us when we are in need. 

  Sometimes we are the blind horse being guided by the little ringing bell of those who God places in our lives.  Other times, we are the guide horse, helping others to find their way.   

  Good friends are like that…you may not always see them, but you know they are alway there.

  Please listen for my bell and I’ll listen for yours.  And remember…be kinder than necessary – everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

  Live simply, Love generously, Care deeply, Speak kindly, Leave the rest to God.”                    Selected

  Listen to God’s Word: “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”  Proverbs 18:24
Jesus said, “You are my friends if you do what I command.  I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”  John 15:14-15  

  I am happy to sign off with–YOUR FRIEND IN CHRIST,  MAX

War and Peace

  I hope you had a great Independence Day weekend. July 4th is a special day in the life of our great nation.

  It has been 233 years since the founding fathers set pen to parchment and produced the Declaration of Independence. In a bold move against Great Britain, the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, proclaimed the independence of the original 13 colonies.

  One of the greatest novels ever written was the massive book, “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy.  It is a fictional, but realistic, story against the historical background of the invasion of Russia by Napoleon Bonaparte.  No matter, its brilliance or its length, it is a story of human struggle in the midst of war.
We know something about war.  Everyday, more American soldiers are being killed.

  William Tecumseh Sherman in his march to the sea, while Atlanta, Georgia was burned on November 15, 1864 said, “War Is Hell.”  Someone has disputed that this statement was first made by Sherman.  It is said that Robert E. Lee was the first to make this statement.  The South had won several battles, his officers and men were elated.  They were feeling invincible.  As the story goes, General Lee then said to them, “War is Hell. We never should grow fond of it.”  No matter who said it, it is horribly true.

  We should know the origin of war.  In the book of James, 4th chapter, verse 1, this question is asked “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?”  KJV 
Every war is a dramatization of man’s inner war, the externalization of his inner conflicts.  War is simply the expression of evil desires within man.

  We should know the origin of peace.  We desire peace, but how badly do we want it?  Do we want it badly enough, to go to war?  Peace is war–war against those hostile, aggressive, evil desires within us.  No reconstructed society can be built on unreconstructed individuals. People who are inwardly tormented and emotionally unhappy can never be good partners with God in bringing peace on earth.  Peace has to come from within.  A peace made possible by man being reconciled to God, through Jesus Christ.  The greatest single influence for peace, in any spot on the globe, is the Gospel of the Prince of Peace.

  I have used this illustration before but it is so appropriate here. “Put The Man Together Right”
A little girl was bothering her daddy while he was trying to read the book, “One World” by Wendell Wilkie.
The father saw, in this paper back book, a picture of the map of the world. He tore it out and cut it into little pieces like a puzzle.  Then, he gave the pieces to his daughter asking her to go off at the side and put the puzzle together.  He thought, this would occupy her a good while, so he could read.  But, to his surprise, in just a short time the little girl was back with the map of the world put together.  He asked her, “How did you put the world together right and so quickly?”  She said, “On the back of the map of the world was a picture of a man and when I put the man together right, the world came out all right.”  

  May we know that only can our world be bathed in peace, when humanity is put together right as God intended.  He sent Jesus into our world to show us how life was meant to be lived.  “He came to be like us, so we could become like Him.”  How are you doing with becoming Christlike?